A Night of Rebirth: Halloween CRACK
by Storychan
Summary: Soul Eater and Yu-Gi-Oh characters meet up at a Halloween party, and crack couples ensue. Sid/Atem, Crona/Yugi, Maka/Anzu
1. Chapter 1

A Night of Rebirth: Halloween-flavored CRACK

By: Storychan

**Disclaimer: I love Halloween, so today I started this crossover in which characters from Soul Eater and Yu-Gi-Oh! (both of which, at one time, were my favorite anime) meet at a Halloween party. Crack pairings (pairings that only make sense if you're on crack) are going to feature heavily in this story, so if you don't like that kind of thing, don't read **_**A Night of Rebirth. **_**I don't own Soul Eater or Yu-Gi-Oh, and am making this just for fun. There will be three couples, one of which is yaoi (which I don't write about….ever, so pardon me if those parts aren't to your liking), one of which is het, and one of which is yuri (girl/girl..if you aren't comfortable with that, this fic might not be for you either). I'm making Jonouchi (Joey) an American in this fic, purely because I loved him as a New Yorker in the 2****nd**** anime. I hope you will read, review, and, of course, enjoy this fic..It's only my 2****nd**** full-length fanfiction! :P**

Prologue

"It's Halloween, Liz-chan," said Patty as she looked up at the stars from the roof of the Death Meister Academy (DMA).

"Yeah, you're right!" Liz agreed. "You know what they say about Halloween?"

"What?"

"It's the night the souls of the dead return to Earth to be reborn."

"Really?" Patty said. "So, the souls we collected with Kid-sama are going away?"

"Nope," Liz smiled. "Shinigami-sama made sure of it. Still, it's pretty boring time in Death City, since the _meisters _usually do go somewhere else on this night."

"Not us," Patty frowned. "Kid-sama said we have to stay here to help him make sure all the stars are symmetrically aligned."

Liz snorted, "Yeah..Don't you love how Kid –sama drags us into dumb stuff like that?" she added sarcastically.

"Still, though", Patty said. "I know for a fact that Sid-sensei, Crona-san, and Maka-chan left for Japan tonight."

"Really?" Liz asked, blinking. "Well…..I wonder what rebirth they'll experience tonight."

She laughed. "What part of Japan are they going to be in, anyway?"

"According to Maka-chan," Patty said, smiling, "they're going to a place called Domino City."

Chapter 1

Atem didn't really know what to make of Halloween. He didn't remember ever celebrating Halloween before, really. So as he watched his partner, Yugi, don a shiny, pointed purple hat, the finishing touch to his Dark Magician costume, an amused smile of puzzlement crossed his face.

"Yugi-kun," Atem asked curiously, "why do people wear costumes on Halloween, anyway?"

Staring at Atem's phantom form backwards through his mirror, Yugi blinked, realizing he wasn't sure. "I really don't know, Pharoah-sama," he admitted. "But I think it has something to do with scaring away spirits. Do you think Anzu-kun will like my costume, though?"

"I'm sure she will," Atem assured him, but internally he was puzzled. _ To scare away spirits? Is that right? The thing is, I'm kind of a spirit myself. Should I really be celebrating Halloween, after all, if I'm technically a ghost?_

"You're a _good _spirit, though, Pharoah-sama!" Yugi told Atem kindly, seemingly reading his thoughts.

"I guess so," Atem agreed, "but we should get going. Anzu-kun is waiting."

_That's right, _Yugi thought, smiling and straightening his hat. _She is. I didn't tell Pharoah-sama this, but most Japanese don't celebrate Halloween, either. But Jonouchi is from America, so he invited all of us over for a party to celebrate Halloween with him. Anzu-kun is just walking there with me because she doesn't have a ride. I know Honda-san was busy tonight, but Jonouchi said he was inviting a friend of his._

_I wonder why he called his friend a 'zombie'._

Sid loved Halloween. It wasn't often that he, a zombie, could go out on the street and not draw stares. He was undead. While that had never bothered many people in Death City, when he travelled, it was often awkwardly uncomfortable. Most people in Japan, one of his favorite countries to visit, weren't used to seeing zombies everyday. He'd never admit it, but it made him self-conscious.

But on Halloween, a zombie wasn't even out of the ordinary. In fact, being undead was _cool._

So when a casual acquaintance he'd met last time he'd been in Domino City on business, Jonouchi, had invited him to a Halloween party, he'd happily agreed to come.

_If only these kids hadn't come with me, though, _Sid thought, glancing down at a genderless pink-haired teenager, costumeless in his/her usual black dress (Crona), and an awestruck kid who wore fake vampire teeth and a cape (Maka). _I know Shinigami-sama said to chaperone them on this little trip of theirs to Domino City, since I'm the only adult who was going, but do I have to babysit 'em all night? I mean, I love the kids, but I need a day off from teaching once in a while._

"Sid-sensei!" Maka smiled, oblivious to Sid's thoughts. "Where are you going tonight?"

"Umm, I'm going to a party tonight, Maka-chan." Sid admitted. "Why?"

"A p-party?" Crona repeated. "That sounds cool. I wish I could go."

"Can we go, Sid-sensei?" Maka pleaded excitedly. "We won't get in your way, I promise!"

_I __**GUESS**__ it'd be alright, _Sid thought. _I mean, according to Jonouchi, other people will be there, so Maka-chan and Crona-san can hang out with them, and __**I **__can do whatever I want while I'm there. That wouldn't be too bad…as long as they didn't leave Jounouchi's, I guess they'll be alright. _

"Fine," Sid agreed, at last, "but don't wander off. Shinigami-sama says I gotta get you kids back to Death City by midnight, or I'm a dead man…again."

Maka laughed, "It'll be OK, Sensei. We'll stay out of your hair."

_Maka-chan's perceptive , isn't she? _Sid thought to himself. _It's cool that she wants to let me do my own thing._

"OK, let's go!" Sid agreed. "Waiting to get there is killing me..y'know, for the 2nd time."

At last, they arrived. Maka smiled when she saw the jack-o-lanterns and fake skulls in the doorway..it reminded her of home. She felt relaxed, and was glad she came.

Then, she tensed suddenly. A wave of weird energy wafted past her down the hallway, and it whispered as it past. To Maka, it sounded like it said _Rebirth._

The wave crashed past her straight into the necklace of a kid with pointy hair dressed like a magician, who was standing next to a dark-haired girl dressed as a magician girl.

It went into the puzzle-shaped charm the kid wore, and suddenly, something…changed.

A second, taller version of the kid now stood beside him. He said, "Yugi-kun! My spirit…I don't know how…I have my own body, again…I'm _alive_!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I'm _alive_!" Atem repeated, scarcely believing it himself. But there he stood: next to Yugi.

Not as an invisible spirit next to Yugi, like normal. Like always. No…..he had a separate body, his _own_ body. His own skin, weathered as it has been 25,000 years ago by the hot sun of Egypt. His own arms, arms he hadn't borrowed from Yugi. A real body…..the body he'd died in as Pharoah so many centuries ago.

Atem didn't know why, but he'd been brought back. Not as a simple spirit of the Puzzle, or as a phantom king hosted within his friend Yugi's body. No…he was _alive_…he could feel it. On Halloween night, he'd been reborn.

Yugi, the boy he'd shared a body with up until this moment, his dear friend, simply stared at him.

"Yami-sama?" Yugi blinked in surprise. _ Could that tall, proud man standing next to him really be Pharoah-sama, the voice in his head, the phantom only he could see? _

"W-who are you?" Anzu cried in shock. Yugi and Atem had almost forgotten about her. Yugi, ofcourse, had **always **been able to see Atem's spirit. Now, however, that spirit inexplicably had gained a body. Yugi wasn't as alarmed at Atem's sudden rebirth: Atem had appeared to him as a spirit ever since he had solved the Millennium Puzzle. Now, Atem was a living person, shockingly. But Yugi already knew what Atem looked like, because he'd spoken to Atem's spirit. Anzu, however, he realized, had never seen Atem as a spirit.

Therefore, she was obviously shocked to see Atem in his own body. At least Yugi **recognized **him.

"Anzu-kun!", Yugi said to her, smiling in disbelief. "The spirit of the Puzzle…this is, uh…."

"You're…._him_?" Anzu said nervously, eyes pleading for confirmation. "You're the Pharoah? You're Yami-sama?"

Atem nodded….it felt so good to nod with his own head again. Using Yugi's head, he realized, simply wasn't the same. He'd **possessed ** Yugi. Being master of his **own **body again, however it had happened, was…different. Better.

Impossible.

"Yami-sama," Yugi asked tentatively, "H-how is this even **happening**?"

"I don't know, Yugi-kun." Atem admitted. 'It's a miracle. A Halloween miracle."

He looked at Yugi, at the small body that had become his host for so long, until tonight. "Thank you, Yugi-kun," Atem said honestly, "for letting me stay in your body until…now."

"Yami-sama," Yugi asked, suddenly looking sad, "if you have your own body now, for whatever reason…does that mean you don't….need me anymore?"

_Could that be true? _Yugi wondered. _Until I solved the Puzzle, I was just an ordinary kid. I wasn't involved with __**any **__of this…the Shadow Games, the ancient Egyptian magic stuff. But when Yami-sama used me to duel through, I became a part of it. His quest to get his memory back, his reign as the King of Games. He started all of this….he's so powerful. Now that he can live in his own body..which however it happened, is wonderful for him…he doesn't have to live in the Puzzle anymore. He doesn't need me to be King. _

"So…this is really you." Anzu said to Atem, more of a question or a plead than a statement.

"Yes, Anzu-kun," Atem smiled sadly, "it is."

_So this is the real Pharoah, _ Anzu thought to herself. _This is his real body, from 25,000 years ago. I don't know how he got it back, how him coming back to life is even __**possible.**__ I mean, I __**met **__him, once, when we went to the museum together. The day he saw me dance at the arcade, before the tournament began. But…he was in Yugi's body. He felt more like a split personality of Yugi's, or a ghost possessing Yugi's body, or whatever, than anything else. I admit, I didn't really think of him as…what he was. A Pharoah of Ancient Egypt who's body had been mummified and put in some tomb a bajillion years back. Now, that body isn't in the tomb anymore. It's not a mummy. It's __**here**__, for Kami's sake. He's….not a part of Yugi anymore._

_I honestly don't know __**who **__he is._

"I don't know how this happened, Yugi-kun, Anzu-kun," Atem admitted, "but I want to enjoy it while it lasts…which I don't know that it will. Will you two….play a game with me?"

"A **game**?" Anzu repeated, incredulous. "You come _back from the dead, _and your 1st thought is to play a **game**?"

"Why, yes!" Atem said. "We're at a party. At parties, people play games with their friends, right? I don't have to play as Yugi-kun now, so all **three **of us could play **together**…wouldn't that be wonderful? To play a game **against **Yugi, instead of **for **him, for once?"

_**For **__him_. The thought reverberated through Yugi's mind, which Atem was now no longer a part of…at least, not tonight. _**For **__him. That means….Yami-sama has had to carry my weight, all this time. He's had to duel __**for **__me, do everything __**for **__me….Have I helped __**him**__ at all? _

Yugi felt so alone in his thoughts. His thoughts, that Atem could no longer hear or share…because Atem had his own body now. He didn't need Yugi's. Yugi was so absorbed in the loneliness of being just himself that he didn't see Anzu run.

Didn't see her run away in tears. Or see a girl in a vampire costume with green eyes, or hear her friends call her name-"Maka!"-as she ran after Anzu. Blushing.


	3. Chapter 3

A Night of Rebirth, Chapter 3

By: Storychan

Anzu sat in the darkness of Jonouchi's back stairs, wondering how she'd possibly been so incredibly wrong.

She'd thought she was important. Sure, she wasn't really a duelist or anything, per se, but she thought she had really been a help to Yami. She had thought the day she'd dragged him to the museum had made a difference in his few memories- the new memories he had made with her, with Yugi, with all of them.

Yet when by some inexplicable miracle, Yami had come back to life, she had realized just how erroneous her thoughts had been.

Anzu had thought she had **known **Yami, yet she now realized she didn't. Anzu didn't even know his real **name**, for Kami's sake. Sure, Yami didn't know his true name, either, but his amnesia didn't change the fact that he **had **a life.

A life that had ended long ago in the sands of Ancient Egypt, but a life nonetheless. When Anzu had gotten to known Yami, she had begun to think of him as part of Yugi, a ghost, not an individual person.

If Anzu had been asked before tonight, she could have talked about Yami.

_Who is Yami?_

An ancient spirit who possesses my friend, Yugi.

_Who are Yami's friends?_

Yugi and Jonouchi and their friends. And **me.**

_What is Yami like?_

He's a spirit. I can't see him except when he possesses Yugi, but I like him!

Now that the last part was no longer true, the first part, thought Anzu, was hanging by a thread. She realized now: Yami was a living person, who eons ago had had his own friends, maybe even his own love.

His first life, the thing Anzu had tried to help him remember, was over eons ago. It had nothing to do with Anzu. It had been chance that had caused her to even know that it had **existed.** Now, that life was back, and Anzu realized she knew nothing about it.

_Who were Yami-sama's friends when he was Pharoah?_Anzu wondered._ Who did he like? What did he do? He didn't know Yugi, or Jonouchi, or I. When he was alive, we hadn't been born yet…even our __**ancestors**__ hadn't been born yet! I realize now, I've thought of Yami-sama in terms of Yugi-kun. Now, Yami-sama has Yugi-kun's friends, and Yugi-kun's cards. Until tonight, he even had Yugi-kun's __**body.**__ Now, he's himself again…and I really don't know anything about who that 'self' is._

Anzu felt hot tears drench her the skirt of Dark Magician Girl costume as she sat huddled on the steps, thinking about it. She'd worn the costume to match Yugi, who was dressed as the Dark Magician, like Yugi's cards. _Like Yami-sama's cards_**. **Anzu thought. _Up until now, everything I liked that was Yami-sama's was actually Yugi-kun's, wasn't it? _

"It's horrible!" Anzu cried aloud. "I don't know anything about _anything _anymore!"

"You definitely know _something_," said a voice from the shadows, the voice of a girl. "You talked to a spirit. That's rare. It takes a sound mind!"

Blinking back her tears, Anzu saw a girl in a vampire costume step out of the shadows, a girl with cute, green eyes and pretty, beige pigtails. _ Oh, great, _ Anzu thought, _now a total stranger has heard me having a panic attack! Happy freakin' Halloween to me, _ she snickered sarcastically through the tears. _But…wait. What was she saying about a sound mind?_

"You **do **have a sound mind," said the girl, who know stood directly in front of Anzu at the steps, leaning down so far to make eye contact with Anzu that one of her fluffy pigtails brushed Anzu's booted knee. "I know it."

"You know **what?" **Anzu laughed bitterly. "That I'm not crazy? I'm certainly acting like it."

"You're scared," the girl said, sitting down next to Anzu on the narrow steps. The steps were so tiny and ancient that they couldn't sit together without their hands touching. _Figures stupid Jonouchi-san would live in such an old neighborhood that the only place to sit is a crumbling staircase where two skinny girls can't even fit!_Anzu thought, rolling her eyes. _And this girl is right. I __**am **__scared. I'm scared that I don't know who my best friend is anymore. I don't know who he really was before he died, and I don't know why he's alive again now._

"Being scared isn't a **bad **thing," said the girl. "It's normal, really. Sorry, where are my manners?" the girl said, blushing at her lack of common sense. _Geez, I'm acting just like Soul-kun, _the girl thought. _ I was so fascinated by this girl because I saw her chat with a departed soul that I forgot to even introduce myself!_ "I'm Maka, by the way," the girl said. "Maka Albarn."

"Anzu," said the other, more tearful girl on the step. _I guess it would be rude not to tell her my name when she's told me hers, _Anzu thought. "Mazaki Anzu."

"Well, Anzu-san," said Maka, "I think you definitely know something. A no-nothing wouldn't be talking to a spirit."

"A spirit that just _came back to life," _ Anzu corrected. "Which should be impossible, right?"

"It **should **be impossible, Anzu-san," said Maka with such certainty that Anzu wondered if Maka saw departed souls on days **other **than Halloween.

_Yeah, right, _thought Anzu. _That would be my luck, wouldn't it? A spirit writes me off and a psychic shows up fifteen minutes later to drag me even deeper into weird stuff I know less than nothing about. _"I'm just an ordinary girl," Anzu said, sighing. "I really don't know…well, **anything **about spirits. I just tried to help Yami-sama because he was **there**…and, in the end, I couldn't even really do that. I'm as clueless about him as I am about what other spirits fly around on Halloween night. I'm no spirit-talker. I just…like to talk to **him**."

"Yami-sama?" Maka repeated, curious. "Is that the spirit I saw you talking to earlier? The one who was reborn?"

"Yeah, that's him," admitted Anzu bitterly. ** Not that I know anything about it. ** "Yami isn't his real name, though. I was trying to help him find out what his real name was, what his real life was like. He **has **life again, now, so I guess he can figure it out without me. Being a corporeal human being, and all."

"That's…admirable." Maka said, impressed. "You're a self-proclaimed 'ordinary girl', but you tried to help an ancient soul remember his past, anyway, even though you knew 'nothing' about it? That's pretty brave, in my book. Most 'ordinary' kids I meet don't want to be involved with magic and spirits. They'd tell someone like Yami-san to figure things out on their own….if they **believed **in something like Yami-san, that is."

_I guess she's right, _ Anzu thought. _I sort of got dragged into believing in Yami-sama because of Yugi-kun. I was OK with it….even if all that's probably over now. _

"You've a sound mind, like I said, Anzu-san," Maka smiled. "And a brave one, at that. It's like I always say: a sound soul resides within a sound mind, which resides within a sound body…and you seem like quite the brave soul, Anzu-san, even if you do get a little scared sometimes. I know I sure do!"

"Scared?" Anzu laughed. "You? You seem like a strong girl…you're the only one with a 'sound body', by the way. I'm just a shrimpy little high school girl who should mind her own business and stop chasing spirits." With a fresh wave of tears, Anzu added, "Spirits that I realized tonight I **don't **really understand..at all, really."

"Even strong girls get scared, Anzu-san!" Maka laughed. "I've been in some damn scary situations, with spirits a lot less friendly than your Yami-san." _ Oops, _Maka thought to herself, blushing slightly. _ I didn't mean to tell her about my meister stuff. She's basically a civilian, after all. She doesn't need to know about that. Telling her I'm a weapon for Death would probably just scare her…and she's already scared enough right now. _ "Still, though, Anzu-san," Maka added with a reassuring smile, "don't be so hard on yourself. Your body is sound enough! Actually, for a normal girl, you're kind of amazing."

Maka blushed. _ W-wait a minute, what did I just say that for? I meant that she's doing OK for an ordinary girl faced with such a scary situation , but the way it came out…Ew, I sound like Dad when he's trying to seem cool to girls. That's __**so **__not what I meant! Besides, I'm a girl, myself. _

Yet as Maka stared, blushing, at Anzu, she realized something. _I honestly just came out here to investigate Anzu's involvement with the Rebirth wave that hit Yami-san. _ It took her a minute to realize she'd referred to Anzu without honorifics in her thoughts. It was probably because she had so few girl pals to name, Maka realized. She'd been around her dad and Soul so long that she was getting informal…the art of polite conversation with a female friend wasn't something Maka had had a lot of time to practice recently. _Meister _training had taken precedence over that. _But from what I've seen, Anzu__**-san**__, _she corrected herself in her mind, _not 'Anzu', I just met her, so she's Anzu-san, and I'd best remember it! _Maka thought to herself. _Anzu-san doesn't have a lot of female friends either. She came her with that boy in the magician costume, and her other friend, that Jounouchi guy, was the one throwing the party. Neither of us are really girly-girls, but…._

Maka couldn't ignore it as she stared at Anzu in the Halloween dark. _Even so, Anzu-san looks really incredible in her magician girl costume. It's based off the Duel Monsters card, isn't it? Dark Magician Girl. Anzu-san…..she may not be magical at all, but she seems able to act and __**look **__the part pretty well. I just wish….._

"I just wish," Anzu admitted to Maka under the darkness of the Halloween night sky, "this night hadn't turned out like it did. As it is, Maka-san, talking to you has been the most fun I've had all night. Is that lame?"

"It's not lame at all, Anzu-san!" Maka smiled. "Especially because this Halloween night is beginning to feel truly magical, after all."

Smiling at each other in the dark, neither of them could know that the magic of their night of rebirth had only just begun.


End file.
